Osachi Hamaguchi

Osachi Hamaguchi (1 April 1870-26 August 1931) was Prime Minister of Japan from 2 July 1929 to 14 November 1930 (succeeding Tanaka Giichi and preceding Kijuro Shidehara) and from 10 March to 14 April 1931 (succeeding Shidehara and preceding Wakatsuki Reijiro).

Biography
Osachi Hamaguchi was born in Nagaoka, Tosa Province, Japan on 1 April 1870. Prior to his political career he served as an official in the Ministry of Finance. As the successor to the government of Tanaka Giichi, his Minseito party administration proved unable to cope with the turbulence in domestic and international affairs. The policies of the Minister of Finance, Inoue Junnosuke, imposed austerity on the economy which deepened the "Showa Depression". Foreign policy was equally unpopular, especially after the foreign minister, Kijuro Shidehara, accepted an inferior position for the Imperial Japanese Navy towards the other powers in the Pacific in negotiations for the London Treaty of 1930. In the welter of domestic criticism that followed, Hamaguchi was attacked by a rightist youth and later died of his wounds. His cabinet came to be seen as having contributed greatly to the loss of support for party government in prewar Japan.